#357 Inches And Balls With Special Guest, John Voelcker
Special guest, eminent mobility journalist. John Voelcker, joins the panel for a discussion on the GM’s EV announcement. They spend the hour digging into the details and what they think will happen.
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audio only,What Drives Us episode
#356 – Three Fifty Something
1) The Union of Concerned Scientists have completed their study and concluded that ride sharing (such as Uber and Lyft) introduce almost 70% more pollutants than the rides they are replacing. Not only the rides they are replacing but taking people off mass transit.
2) A study of vehicles interacting with pedestrians at a crosswalk showed that there is a direct correlation between how aggressive the vehicle is towards the pedestrians and how much that vehicle costs. So yeah, rich drivers are bigger jerks and the data backs it up!
3) The coronavirus is impacting the supply lines of vehicle manufacturing along with other appliance manufacturing. Couple this with Ford’s continuously declining stock price and market share and we’re starting to wonder whether Ford can avoid a bankruptcy or total liquidation.
4) Continuing our discussion about Tesla’s Buffalo, NY, factory, the state of New York is looking to sell some manufacturing equipment it had purchased for Tesla but was never used.
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audio only,Special Episode,Special Guest
WDU 1on1 #8 Matthew Klippenstein
Fuel cell engineer and sustainable energy expert Matthew Klippenstein comes on One on One to discuss the Nikola merger and what it means for Nikola, fuel cell and BEV semi trucks. A little aside on GM’s new announcements but mostly, why a diversified energy sector is a stronger one.
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#355 Solar Shakedown
- The guys get into a tussle over Tesla’s Gigafactory in Buffalo New York now that Panasonic has pulled out of the location. Will there ever be Solar glass?
- After 40 years of trying to figure it out, scientists have finally figured out why solar panels experience a 2% efficiency drop within the first hour of operation.
- Hyundai released images of a concept vehicle that is supposed to serve as inspiration for their upcoming EV vehicles.
- Ford allows drivers to sign up for insurance and use their connected cars to track their driving habits. Spoiler: if you’re being paid, you’re the product.
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Car, concept, connected, Efficiency, EV, first, Ford, gigafactory, Hyundai, insurance, LE, LED, new york, oil, rv, solar, Tesla, Vehicles
audio only,Chicago Auto Show,What Drives Us episode
#353 AWD and the Chicago Auto Show
1) Russell has just returned from a Toyota event in which he was driving their brand new AWD systems they are introducing in their sedans.
2) Tony and Jon B spent two days at the Chicago Auto Show and provide their impressions of what they saw.
3) Jon B provides speculative insights as to what the upcoming RAV4 Prime might reveal about possible changes coming to the Prius Prime.
4) Jaguar is having to temporarily stop production of the I-Pace due to a battery shortage.
5) Why is it extremely possible that ICE vehicles are not going away anytime soon?
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auto show, battery, chicago, EV, LE, prime, Prius, prius prime, RAV4, reveal, Toyota, Vehicles
audio only,What Drives Us episode
#352 EVs Everywhere!
1) Russell teases that he’s been invited to a Toyota AWD event. More details in a future show.
2) Simon Wecker, a guy in Berlin, Germany, pulled 90 cell phones – all with Google Maps active – through empty streets. Why? Because Google interpreted all that data to mean that the streets were congested with 90 cars, all barely moving along. The result was empty streets thanks to Google routing everyone around Wecker and his wagon of phones.
3) Hyundai is doubling their Kona EV production be adding a second factory. This is in response to the Kona’s massive demand, which Hyundai is not able to keep up with.
4) The new US Building Codes will call for new homes in the US to be manufactured “EV Ready”.
5) Rivian and Amazon are designing and building a custom EV Amazon delivery van. It’s kind of cute.
6) We’re relatively excited to see that there are EV trucks coming to market. Americans love their trucks so if we want to win them over we’re going to need electric trucks.
7) Toyota is introducing new technology to safe stupid people from themselves. This new software will detect when someone mashes the accelerator rather than the brake and make sure the car doesn’t surge forward. Because, let’s face it, unexpected acceleration was really human error all along.
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Car, Eco, electric, EV, future, german, google, Hyundai, LE, LED, Software, Technology, Toyota, truck, van
#351 Tesla FIGHT!
It all started so calmly. Russell just finished filming his review of the Lexus ES300h and promised to have that posted within a week or so. That transitioned to his and Tony’s very different opinions of the Lexus UX250h (spoiler, Tony’s right). From there, it went South: Mark mentioned the Tesla Earning Call. Paul questioned their profitability. Tony got hung up on the term Autopilot and the phrase “Full Self Drive”. Patrick insists that not enough people have read the official FAA definition of Autopilot and we try to figure where Tesla is in Autonomous Driving (Levels 1 – 5).
Fortunately, we ran out of time and had to call it a night before any punches were thrown.
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autonomous, autopilot, EV, Full Self Drive, LE, Lexus, oil, review, Tesla
#349 Whose Data is it, Anyway?
In this week’s show:
1) The current NTSB requirements for black box data is woefully short of all the data required to determine the actual situation of a modern-day crash. Manufacturers are not required to hand over additional data. Should owners be able to pull the data themselves to turn over to the police? Should they be able to pull data from a used car prior to purchasing it?
2) Tesla’s stock has soared recently to the point that the company is now valuated higher than GM and Ford, combined! It doesn’t help that Ford and GM have seen their own valuations dropping in the recent months.
3) The Boring Company’s 0.8 mile tunnel is completed under Las Vegas between convention centers. It’s likely not going to reach 140mph like previously advertised, it might use skates to move cars or not. Details are few and far between.
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autonomous, batteries, battery, boring company, bus, Car, CBC, Charging, concept, Convenience, Cyber Truck, Cybertruck, Diesel, Eco, Efficiency, electric, elon, elon musk, Employees, epa, EV, eVolution, FICA, Ford, FSD, fuel cell, Full Self Drive, General Motors, gm, Government, Gratification, hybrid, ID.3, id3, Incentives, las vegas, LE, Lexus, LimePod, lyft, Micromobility, mobility, Model S, model X, motorcycle, nissan, Oregon, Plug-in, porsche, Portland, Range Anxiety, RAV-4, RAV4, review, robots, rv, RVing, Software, solar, Starlink, tax, Tax Credit, Technology, Tesla, the boring company, Toyota, Tracking, TriMet, trump, tunnel, update, Updates, volkswagen
#348 Dieselgate Saves VW
This week:
1) States face roadblocks on path to lower tailpipe emissions.
2) BMW remains committed to ICE cars for at least 30 more years.
3) The Prius is no longer Toyota’s top-selling hybrid.
4) Sony shocks CES by unveiling a car.
5) The Fisker Ocean might actually be areal thing.
6) Tesla’s Gigafactory 4 has to tread lightly in the forest.
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autonomous, batteries, battery, BMW, bus, Car, CBC, Charging, concept, Convenience, Cyber Truck, Cybertruck, Diesel, dieselgate, Eco, Efficiency, electric, elon, elon musk, emissions, Employees, epa, EV, eVolution, FICA, FSD, fuel cell, Full Self Drive, General Motors, gigafactory, gm, Government, Gratification, hybrid, ID.3, id3, Incentives, LE, Lexus, LimePod, lyft, Micromobility, mobility, Model S, model X, motorcycle, nissan, Oregon, Plug-in, porsche, Portland, Prius, Range Anxiety, RAV-4, RAV4, review, robots, rv, RVing, Software, solar, Starlink, tax, Tax Credit, Technology, Tesla, Toyota, Tracking, TriMet, trump, update, Updates, volkswagen, VW, What Drives Us
Toyota RAV4 Hybrid – Ride-along Review
Totally redesigned in 2019, the RAV4 feels as familiar as ever. Toyota’s hybrid system delivers seamless hybrid functionality and absolutely stellar miles per gallon. If you’re looking for an affordable SUV that can comfortably seat four, lug a bunch of stuff, and save gas money, the RAV4 Hybrid is your reliable option.
2019, 2020, battery, EV, featured, Ford, hybrid, LE, Mileage, MPG, RAV4, RAV4 Hybrid, review, SUV, Toyota